A LETTEE 



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Copy 1 



SAMTAEY CONDITIOI 



TROOPS m THE SEIGHBOMOOD OF BOSTOK 



ADDRESSED TO 



HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, 



SfG. HOWE, M. J)., 

MEMBER OP THE UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION. 



PRINTED BY REQUEST OP THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1861. 



HIS EXCELLENCY GOYEOOR ANDREW. 



Boston, July 25, 1861. 

Dear Sir : Some time ago I made, at your request, a hasty inspec- 
tion of the sanitary and general condition of our troops which were 
first sent to Washington, and reported to you that it was, upon the 
whole, satisfactory, considering the ordinary condition of armies in 
the field, and considering that the march of our men was not only 
their first march, but a forced one. 

In that sudden and dire emergency, it was meet that Massachusetts 
and her troops should accept the sufferings and hardships of war 
without a murmur. It was not a moment for close criticism. But 
we are getting into a state of persistent war, and it behooves us to 
see how it can be vigorously prosecuted with the least suffering and 
hardship to our soldiers that is consistent with honor. 

Being prevented from aiding the national sanitary commission, as 
much as I desired to do, at Washington, I have tried to do something 
indirectly here by visiting our encampments, and I address to you 
some reflections suggested thereby. 

From the moment a man enlists in the army his bodily and men- 
tal powers belong to the country. He is called upon by honor, duty, 
and patriotism, to devote his time, strength, and life even, if need be, 
to her service. These obligations are kept continually before his 
eyes, and those of the world, in prayer, prose, and verse, to say 
nothing of array regulations ; but there are others which are apt to 
be forgotten. 

Obligations between parties are reciprocal, and the country is bound 
by as strong ties of honor and duty to the soldier as he is to it. The 
soldier's health is his capital — his stock in trade. It yields a certain 
daily income in the shape of bodily strength and activity. All of this 
the country has a right to; but it has no right to touch the capital 
unnecessarily, or in any way to diminish it. Nay ! it is bound by 
moral considerations, if not by army regulations, to increase it, if pos- 
sible, so that the soldier may be richer when he is mustered out than 
he was when mustered into service. Any unnecessary fatigue or ex- 
posure, therefore, any needless lack of wholesome food and clothing, 



any avoidable violation of sanitary laws, by which the soldier's health 
is broken, is a fraud upon him. 

'These remarks may seem trite and superfluous, but experience 
shows that governments do not practically admit their responsi- 
bility to the soldier for the care and preservation of his health — his 
stock in trade. That our government ought to admit this responsibility, 
in part at least, is clear, because it undertakes to provide food, clothing, 
and lodging. These, especially the latter, are often unnecessarily bad 
and unwholesome ; worse, certainly, than our volunteers from New 
England are accustomed to at home. 

Government ought to take as much care of the soldier's health as 
it does for its personal estate, its implements of war, or its horses, 
but it does not. For instance, it is well known that the use of straw 
between the ground and the soldier's blanket is very important in a 
sanitary point of view ; it is useful, too, for horses. Now the United 
States army regulations allow 100 pounds a month for each cavalry 
horse, but only 12 pounds a month for each soldier. These straws 
show which way the wind blows. The government owns both the 
capital and the income of the horse's vital force, and economizes both ; 
but it owns only the income of the soldier's vital force, and neglects 
the capital. True, a horse needs more straw than a man, but not 
eight times as much. The point is, that he is provided, whenever it 
is possible, with all that is needful for his well-being, but the man 
is not. 

But if this instance is not well chosen, hundreds of others might 
be given to show what, indeed, the vital statistics of all modern armies 
show beyond question, that most governments do (unwittingly, per- 
haps) act towards soldiers as slaveholders are apt to do towards their 
slaves when negroes are very cheap — they use them up by hard work 
and poor fare in eight years, rather than make them last sixteen or 
twenty years by careful usage. Slaveholders have found out that this 
is poor policy when the prime cost is very high ; but government has 
not found out that, to the country, the costliest things are healthy and 
vigorous men. 

Let ns glance at the imperfect statistics of mortality in our armies. 
In the Mexican war, 1,549 of our men were killed in battle or died of 
wounds, while 10,986 died of disease ; that is to say, for every man 
whom the Mexicans slew, disease slew seven. This, however, does 
not tell the whole story. A man slain in battle is one man less in 
our army; but for every man sick enough to be in the hospital there are 



several others ailing, and only half fit for duty, while every patient 
requires the care and attention of ethers ; so that 1,000 men on pur 
sick list diminishes our force at least 2,000. 

Again : To the slain man there is a sad end. If he does not benefit, 
he does not cumber the world ; but of your sick men, many are in- 
valided for life. In the Mexican war, 9,749 were discharged as unable 
to do iurther military duty. These were young men, and most of 
them broken down by exposure and fatigue, and many forever ruined 
in health. 

The statistics of the war of 1812-'14 are imperfect, but full of sad, 
though useful lessons. Some of the regiments had one-third of the 
whole number sick in the hospitals at one time. Dr. Mann says, that 
from estimation of the number sick in general and regimental hospi- 
taLs, he believes that about one-half of the whole army of Fort George 
was unfit for duty during the summer months. 

It is useless, however^ to dwell on this matter, because our people 
begin to understand that the frightful mortality in armies is caused 
by disease far more than by wounds ; but they do not so well know that 
most army diseases are preventable, and that sickness and death 
among soldiers need not be more common than among men at home. 
Government reduces the mortality in good State prisons below the 
average in civil life, and they might so reduce it in the army if they 
would increase the expense. Why not? The soldier lives in the 
open air. His diet, and his lodging, and his habits may all be wisely 
regulated. Nay ! the thing has been proved. In consequence of 
the frightful mortality by disease the British government sent out a 
sanitary commission to the Crimea ; and Miss Nightingale sent her- 
self. The soldiers had been dying like rotten sheep. Late in 1854 
they died at the rate of 33 per cent, a year. The rate afterwards 
increased so fearfully, and rose so high^ that if it had continued, and 
if recruits had not been continually poured in to fill the dead men's 
places, the whole army would have perished in less than a year. 

In consequence of active, wise, and resolute efforts the number of 
deaths immediately began to lessen^ and continued to lessen until, in 
the first quarter of 1856, the rate of mortality was as low as it is 
usually among men of the army ages in the most healthy rural 
districts of England. 

Let us now look at the condition of the recruits in our encampments. 
They are said to be in good health. Of course they are, for they are 
fresh from their various wholesome callings. As time is necessary to 



6 

form an army, so it is to breed an epidemic ; and the processes for both 
are in active operation. 

The main object of these encampments should be two-fold — to train 
men by drill and manoeuvres, and to raise their physical powers to a 
maximum. The first is the duty of the officer, the second of the 
sanitarian; an actual though lamentable distinction, for a really good 
officer will be also a good sanitarian. The first duty is everywhere 
looked after ; the second is almost everywhere overlooked. It ought 
not so to be. In training men for the ring we not only teach them 
to hit skilfully, but we at once put them on such diet and regimen 
as will increase their vital force and make them hit hard. In training 
soldiers, however, we submit them to such diet and regimen as must 
decrease their vital force. Who would think of training boxers on 
salt junk and lodging them in close rooms with foul air ? Yet this is 
what we are doing while training soldiers ; and it will tell in the 
coming campaign. 

There should be a very small percentage of kid glove in an 
army, We want muscular men who can march fast and far ; who 
can carry weight, and wheel guns, and use spades, and endure fatigue. 
In the southern army they have not merely ten but fifty per cent, of 
ki-d glove. But most of all we want men of abundant vital force, 
who can resist destructive agencies of all kinds ; among these are 
climatic influences ; and it will be found that strong, temperate, well- 
trained northern men will stand tropical heats better than southern 
men not so trained. 

In our encampments there are several things which tend to lower 
the vital force of recruits. 

The space allotted is too small, especially at night. 

A crowd is always unwholesome. Men want room. Packing hu- 
man bodies closely together tends to breed disease. Hence comes the 
well known fact that epidemic army diseases resemble those engendered 
in closely packed quarters of large cities. But in no city, and no 
quarter of a city, perhaps, are people so closely packed as our soldiers 
are, or have recently been, at one of our camps, where accurate 
measurements show that the population was at the rate of over ^ 
million to a square mile. A thousand men were encamped on 20,460 
square feet of ground. 

As a general thing, not only at the islands, bnt in the camps on the 
mainland, the men are too much crowded. 

This is especially true of their quarters by night. The able report 
of the British commissioners on the sanitary condition of the army 



recommends that each soldier be allowed in his barracks a space contain- 
ing at least 600 cubic feet of air. A room to contain this should be 10 
feet square by 6 feet high. If the ceiling is higher, of course the 
superficial dimensions may be less ; but it will not do to carry this 
too far, for we run against a law which seems to require that every 
human being shall have lateral room and verge enough in order to be 
healthy. If you raise the ceiling to 10 feet, you may reduce the floor 
space to 10 feet by 6, but you cannot by raising it 20 feet reduce the 
floor space to 10 feet by 3 without detriment to the health of the 
sleepers ; and if they are forced to lie in close contact, no height what- 
ever, though it be of the whole heaven, will prevent contamination 
of the atmosphere, and injury by other means besides. 

With these principles in view, let us look at the lodgings provided 
for our volunteers. At Forts Warren and Independence some of the 
men lodge in casemates, some in tents. The casemates are, of course, 
damp in most weathers, and fires have to be kept up, even in summer, 
to make them less unwholesome. The following table shows the 
measurement of these rooms, at Fort Independence, with the number 
of men occupying them in the latter part of June. 



No. of 


Length of 
room. 


Width. 


Height. 


Floor, surface. 


Cubic 


space. 


lodgers. 


Total. 


To each man. 


Total. 


To each man. 




Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


16 


25 


13J 


lOi 


344i 


m 


3,614 


226 


16 


18 1-6 


14 


11 


2541 


16 


2,897 


181 


12 


14! 


14i 


11 


212f 


17! 


2,339 


195 


12 


14f 


14i 


11 


212f 


17! 


2,339 


195 


11 


14! 


14i 


11 


212| 


lOi 


2,339 


212 


14 


14f 


14i 


11 


2121 


15 1-6 


2,339 


167 


21 


23 


17 


13 


391 


18! 


5,083 


242 


17 


23 


17 


13 


391 


23 


5,083 


299 


18 


23 


17 


13 


391 


21| 


5,083 


282 


18 


22 


18 


13 


414 


23 


5,382 


299 


14 


18 


lU 


13 


204 


14 4-7 


2,652 


189 3-7 


16 


18 


iH 


13 


204 


m 


2,652 


185f 


22 


18 


16! 


11 


,100 


13 7-11 
15 51-59 
401 


3,300 
45,102 
31,538 


150 


235 


3,744i 


190 




88 


27.6 


13 




60 


2,426 


5251 



Here the maximum cubic space of air to each man is less than one- 
half the minimum recommended by the British Sanitary Commission. 

The floor space was still more cramped, being less than 16 feet upon 
an average, and in one room less than 13 feet to a man. This allows 



8 

only about two feet lateral space upon the floor, so that the men slept 
in actual bodily contact, packed almost like herring. It could not be 
otherwise. One company, more fortunate, were lodged in a sort of 
barn, had over 40 feet of floor space, and 500 feet cubic space per man. 
The following table gives the measurement of the rooms at Fort 
Warren : 











Floor surface. 


Cubic space. 


No. of 


Length. 


Width. 


Height. 








lodgers. 


Total. 


To each man. 


Total. 


To each man. 




Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


Feet. 


12 


15 


13 1-6 


7 1-6 


107.5 


19 


1,425 


119 


11 


16i 


11 


7 1-6 


181.5 


17.6 


1,267 


115 


12 


16i 


lOf 


7 1-6 


176 


14.8 


1,261 


113 


60 


45 


15 


16 


675 


11.25 


10,800 


180 


12 


16i 


11 


7 1-6 


181.5 


15 


1,283 


106.6 


12 


Ibi 


m 


7 1-6 


176 


14.8 


1,261 


105 


11 


m 


m 


7 1-6 


176 


16 


1,261 


113 



Here, again, the average floor space was less than 15 feet to each 
man, and the average and cubic space less than 145 feet. 

I omit from the calculation one room, in which on one night 75 men 
are said to have slept, with a floor space of only nine feet to a man ; 
which is hardly credible even by western travellers, who have to sleep 
three in a bed, or on the floor. 

It is useless to say that the air in such rooms must be unwholesome 
even with the port holes and doors open in warm breezy weather ; 
but when closed in cold nights, or whether closed or open in still 
nights, the air must become fetid and unwholesome. Breathing it 
must, of course, continually, and little by little, lessen the stock of 
vital force. As for those lodged in tents, they fare worse. 

In the first place, the tents are badly pitched. In some no atten- 
tion is paid to drainage ; and in none that I have seen is the drainage 
systematic and thorough. In some, as at Eeadville, a slight ditch is 
dug around the tent, and the sods and dirt left in a heap or carried 
away at leisure. A far better way is, supposing the tent to be circu- 
lar, first, to mark a space equal to its circumference at the bottom, and 
take off all the sods from the inside of this circle, then dig a trench 
all around the outer edge and throw the dirt within the circle, then 
take the sods and put them back again and beat them down firmly. 
You have then an elevated floor ; and if you drive the pegs at the 
bottom of the trench, and strap down, you can easily keep the tent 
dry without closing it at the bottom. If the wind blows, throw in a 



little light straw, hay, or brush, and break the draught without 
closing the opening. If the ground is well chosen, it is easy to drain 
all the trenches into one common drain. 

I was told by many officers when I suggested these precautions 
that they were not necessary ; that there was not much rain, and ihe 
ground being sandy readily absorbed it. But our camping grounds 
ought to be schools ; and the soldiers ought to be taught to take such 
measures to secure dry sleeping places as will be necessary in the 
worst weather. As it is now, a three days' heavy storm, such as we 
have at some seasons, would make most of our tents very uncomfort- 
able and unwholesome, if not uninhabitable. 

In the next place, the tents are too much crowded together. For 
instance, at Long Island, a regiment was encamped on 20,460 square 
feet, which gave less than 23 square feet of surface lor each man. 
Moreover, the tents, instead of being in separate rows with wide 
space between each, were in double rows, with the back ends in con- 
tact. 

This may not occur again ; but the same error, though in a less de- 
gree, prevails in many camps, and ought to be corrected. Military 
considerations, of course, often require a sacrifice of sanitary precau- 
tions, but they do not in this matter. 

^)s for the floor space and the cubic space of air allowed to the men 
inside the tents, it seems hopeless, with the modern ideas of encamp- 
ment, to have as much as is absolutely required for health. Of all 
the impedimenta of an army, tents are among the greatest; and many 
brilliant campaigns have been made without them. Indeed, I doubt 
whether, in the long run, men who sleep in the open air, without 
other covering than a hooded capote or a poncho, suffer more than 
those who are poisoned by the close and fetid air of tents. In ours 
the floor surface allowed is so small that the men must lie in contact ; 
while the roof is so low that the cubic space is no greater than that of 
the black hole of Calcutta. 

It is true that in dry weather the i anvass is porous ; and, besides, 
the flaps can be kept open ; but in wet weather the canvass becomes 
almost air tight, and the doors must be kept closed. 

As for the self- ventilating tents, so called, they afford relief to some 
extent, and in ordinary weather ; but, like all other modes of venti- 
lation which depend upon atmospheric pressure, they fail in those con- 
ditions of the atmosphere when ventilation is most needed. 

Think of putting twelve men to lodge in a room twelve feet square 



10 

by six feet high, though never so well ventilated ! We would not so 
treat our children ; we should be ashamed so to treat our servants ; 
but we do so treat our soldiers. 

Another matter not sufficiently attended to is the frequent change 
in the location of the tent. The effluvia and imperceptible emana- 
tions from the human body will affect even the ground on which men 
sleep ; and although they may use straw, or have board floors, still it 
is desirable that the tents should be frequently struck and re-pitched, 
even if only ten feet from the old place. 

BAERACKS. 

Whatever necessity there may be for crowding the men in tents, 
it cannot exist in regard to wooden buildings erected expressly for the 
troops, because there is ground space enough, and there are boards 
enough in Massachusetts ; also, carpenters enough to put them to- 
gether. The buildiogs, however, at Camp Cameron, in North Cam- 
bridge, are not large enough, or not numerous enough for the pur- 
pose intended. 

Buildings erected for soldiers' barracks should be spacious, dry, and 
airy. They should have single bunks, and should be so constructed 
that the men can observe decency with regard to personal exposure. 
In the model barracks in England, each man is screened from his 
neighbor by a bulkhead of thin corrugated iron, not reaching to the 
floor, nor the ceiling, lest it interrupt ventilation. 

The barracks should be provided with shelves, with pegs to hang 
clothing, and with tables for reading ; but not for sleeping, for sol- 
diers should not be allowed to take their meals in the room where 
they sleep. 

Now the barracks at Camp Cameron are rough, unsightly, untidy, 
and cheerless. They are about 100 feet long by 20 wide ; upright 
joists, 10 feet ; roof, 10 feet. They are built of rough boards, roughly 
put together, and not battened. They are intended for 125 soldiers, 
non-commissioned officers, and musicians. 

On one side are three rows of bunks, made of rough boards, one 
row above the other. These are each seven feet long and six wide, 
and intended for three men! 1 On the other side are two rows of 
single bunks, one above the other, for non-commissioned officers and 
musicians. 



11 

^uch buildings may do upon sudden emergency, but they are utterly 
unfit for New England men to live in. They are unfit for barracks 
for soldiers who are being trained for the army. 

It is no great matter, in summer, that the wind draws through the 
cracks in the sides and in the floor ; but it is a very serious matter in 
a sanitary and social point of view, that men are forced to pig in to- 
gether, and sleep by threes in coarse wooden bunks. 

There ought to be scrupulous cleanliness, and perfect order, and 
some little appliances for the comfort of the men, such as smooth deal 
tables and benches, and the means of some ornamentation. But in- 
stead there is, almost necessarily, dirt, and confusion, and indecency. 

But what touches nearest the point I am considering is the lack of 
sufficient space in which the men can live and breathe and have their 
being. In all well regulated poor-houses it is thought that every 
pauper should have his own bed ; that the beds should be separated 
from each other by at least two or three feet of floor space, and that the 
rows ol beds should be separated by ten or tv/elve feet of floor space. It 
is held essential also that each pauper should have at least 50 square 
feet of floor space, and at least 500 or 600 cubic feet of air, while it 
is desirable that he should have 1,000 feet, or more if it can be had. 
The barracks, however, at Camp Cameron are so constructed as to 
allow our soldiers less than 14 feet floor space, and less than 245 cubic 
feet of air. Admitting that the buildings are not full, and that upon 
an average the inmates do not exceed 100, still we give them only 
twenty feet of floor space, and 300 cubic feet of air ; a stinted allow- 
ance, which, if made to paupers, ought to cause the almshouse to be 
indicted as a nuisance. The same may be said of the Park Barracks 
in New York and many others. 

Again, among the causes which affect the purity of tbe air in 
camps is the condition of the 

LATRINES, SINKS, OR PRIVIES. 

More systematic and strict regulations are needed in our encamp- 
ments to prevent the contamination of the air by the removal and 
burial of all offal. The daily accumulation of dirt and filth — the 
refuse of kitchens, and other matter — is necessarily great wherever 
human beings closely congregate, but especially where women do not 
come. In camps the refuse animal and vegetable matter is great, 
and unless regularly and systematically disposed of, it putrifies and 



12 

contaminates the air. For this reason, as well as for others, even 
with the best police regulations, frequent change of camping ground 
is desirable. 

Around some of our camps are found strewn about on the grass 
bits of pork rind, potato skins, and the like. Bui it is especially in 
the matter of privies, or publics, as they should rather be called, 
that more care and attention is needed. Is it necessary because they 
are constructed and used in armies without regard to decency, that 
they should be so in Massachusetts? Is it necessary to break down 
that sense of propriety among the men which governs them at home ? 
Plowever this may be, surely the privies should be located and regulated 
in such manner as to be the least offensive to the senses and pernicious 
to health ; but it is not so. For instance, at Fort Warren, the vast 
trench dug for the common privy could have been constructed so that 
the tide would cleanse it ; or, if this was not desirable, it might have 
been placed on any side of the fort. But there was one side on which 
it ought not to be placed, because from that come the prevailing 
wind. But it is placed exactly there, in the very eye of the east 
wind, which sweeps the odor into the interior of the fort. The trench 
itself^ too, when I saw it, was in a veiy bad state, it did not seem to 
have been filled over for a long time. 

In the camps upon shore I saw but one where the privy was con- 
structed with a view to decency, the one at Quincy, but even that was 
in a most neglected and filthy condition. 

The location of the camp privy is important ; it should not be too 
far from the tents, else the men will shirk going to it in the night ; on 
the other hand, it should not be so near as to be offensive. 

But what is most needed is strict police regulation for its manage- 
ment. The trench should be at least eight feet deep, and where a 
foot of refuse has accumulated a foot of fresh earth, mingled, if possi- 
ble, with some disinfecting substance, should be thrown in. Finally, 
when within two feet of the surface, the whole should be filled up, 
and a new trench dug. 

All the refuse of the kitchens and of the tables should be carefully 
collected and thrown into the trench daily. 

I have dwelt upon this matter of a supply of space and fresh air, 
because it seems of the greatest moment. Perhaps there is no one of 
the numerous agencies acting upon the human system which is more 
important than air, food itself hardly excepted. Let a man live out 
of doors and breathe perfectly pure air, by night as well as by day, 



13 

and disease will seldom touch liiai. Statistics, so far as they have 
been carefnlly taken, go to confirm the belief that breathing foul air 
in barracks and in tents is a fertile cause of the great mortality 
among soldiers. In the British army, of the entire number of deaths 
from all causes, it appears that of the cavalry, 53 9 per cent., of the 
infantry, 57.277 per cent., and of the guards, 67.683 per cent., are 
from diseases of the respiratory organs. In other words — while in 
civil life, deaths among men of the army age are 6.3 per 1,000; they 
amount in the cavalry, (the healthiest men of the service,) to 7.3; in 
the infantry of the line, to 10.2; and in the guards, to 13.8 per 1,000. 

It is in view of these remarkable statistics that the British sanitary 
commissioners forcibly remark that "in civil life, insufficient cloth- 
ing, insufficient and unwholesome lood, sedentary and unwholesome 
occupations, and the vitiated atmosphere of unhealthy dwellings, all 
contribute to the propagation of this class of diseases. But, m the 
army, it cannot be alleged that the clothing, the food, or the nature 
of the occupation itself, are of a character which would justify the im- 
putation that they are among the predisposing causes of the excessive 
mortality of the soldier by pulmonary disease." 

If, therefore, it can be shown that the soldier in his barracks breathes 
a vitiated and polluted atmosphere, it follows, that of the four pre- 
disposing causes above enumerated, the last is the one " to which the 
excessive liability of the soldier to this class of disease may be chiefly 
attributed." 

If the subject is pursued more closely, it appears that excluding 
inflammation of the lungs, acute catarrh, and other diseases having 
no obvious connexion with the purity or impurity of the atmosphere — 
the statistics still show a great prevalence among soldiers of disorders 
plainly connected with the state of the air. 

FOOD — RATIONS. 

Abundant experience shows that men of the army age require daily 
at least 28 ounces of nutritious food, of which one quarter should be 
nitrogenous or reparative. The vital force cannot be kept up with 
less. The quality should be good. You cannot make good muscle 
out of hard, tough food. It should be easily digestible ; because if you 
you waste the vital force of a man on digesting tough food, you can- 
not have it for effective service. 

So far as I have been able to observe the food served out in our 
encampment, it is sufficient in quantity. As compared with army 



14 

rations generally, it is ojood in quality, but it is not so good as we 
should furnish to men if, without regard to cost, we were trying to 
raise their physical power to its maximum. 

The United States rations are sufficient in quantity, and generally 
as good as can be expected in quality, though it is very desirable 
that the meat should oftener be fresh. The very process by which 
meat is made to resist putrefaction makes it resist the digestive jjower 
longer. 

By economy and careful management, however, the United States 
rations may be made to suffice for the reasonable want of the soldier, 
all the complaints of the grumblers to the contrary notwithstanding. 

But when we come to the matter of cooking, it is quite another 
thing. As tolerably good bread is furnished in our encampment 
ready made, no other comments are needed, save that it seems served 
too fresh, and that it would be well to teach the men to make and 
bake bread. If some such method as that proposed by Professor 
Horsford can be brought into successful use among' the troops, it 
would be an immense advantage. This is a very important matter, 
however, and should be gravely considered and carefully tested before 
any change is made. 

The most important culinary matter, as it regards our troops, is 
the cooking of meat. The object of this is not only to render it more 
palatable than raw meat, but to make it shorter — that is, to have the 
fibre more easily separable, and also to extract part of the oil without 
changing that which remains into an empyreumatic state. 

The best and wholesomest mode of cooking (as all trainers for the 
ring know) is hroiling ; for the piece is thin ; the fibre is cut across, 
and the oil exudes easily. 

Next is roasting, especially with the old fashioned spit, (a ramrod 
will do,) and with motion. 

Next is baking, not so good as the two first, but far better than the 
next, which is boiling. This extracts the oil, but it is wasteful by 
dissipating the juices, unless the piece is plunged into boiling water 
and the albumen coagulated at once. This, however, makes a part 
of the meat hard. On the whole, it is more expensive and gives less 
nutrition than the other modes named. 

Steiving is only a sort of boiling. 

As for frying, it is too abominable to be taken into the account. It 
is positively bad, as it changes the oil into an empyreumatic state 



15 

and hardens the fibre. Butter, &c., when melted by gentle heat is 
digestible and nutritious, but when melted at a very high heat, as by 
frying, it is indigestible and hurtful. 

Now, it is to be regretted that no provision is made in our encamp- 
ment, nor, indeed, in the United States army, for cooking meat by 
either of the first three and most wholesome processes. 

The British commissioners in their report say: "When a soldier enters 
the service, he has the prospect of dining on boiled meat every day for 
twenty-one years, if he is enabled to serve so long ; and we have it 
stated in evidence that men frequently leave part of their meat, 
which, when cooked and free from bone, does not much exceed a half 
a pound, their stomachs loathing the constant repetition of the same 
food in the same form." 

British soldiers, when quartered in town, frequently send their 
meat to the bakers at their own expense, rather than have it boiled 
free of cost to them. 

The French sent out a hundred and fifty ovens to the Crimea for 
baking not only bread, but meat. 

It is highly desirable that some mode be introduced into our en- 
campments and into the United States army for broiling, roastingj 
and baking meat. 

The cooking apparatus in our encampment is entirely insufficient 
for the purpose of furnishing that variety in the mode of cooking food 
which is necessary, not only to make it persistently palatable, but 
even wholesome. Men require variety, not only in the substancej 
but in the form of their food. 

I am reluctant to touch upon the matter of the actual health of our 

troops, for it is in the hands of able medical men : and I shall do so no 

^ further than is necessary to illustrate one point of my communication. 

"^ The general health is said to be good ; that there are very few on the 

jk list, and fewer in hospital. But this is an imperfect test of the 

^tary condition of the troops, I found many complaining that they 

rather unwell; and slight diarrhoeas are almost epidemic. These 

^ibuted by most doctors to " change in the mode of life. ' '" Now, 

^e very matter in discussion. The change of mode of life 

sp be such as to lower the vital force of the men at the out- 

me that the diarrhoeas are mainly caused by the fre- 



16 

quent checks of the insensible perspiration to which the men are sub- 
ject in the night. The bedding is insufficient. Many of those who 
sleep in tents must be exposed to draught, for the flaps must be kept 
open, in order to prevent suffocation. This is one of the practical ill- 
effects of crowding men in tents and barracks. We shall hear more 
of these diarrhoeas when they intensify into dysenteries. 

We shall learn, too, the necessity, perhaps, of rigidly excluding 
from the encampments all venders and donors of food, drink, fruit, &c., 
and confiaing the men to plain, wholesome food at regular intervals. 

I found ^hat lice had begun to infest several of the camps ; but the 
medical men are on their guard, and our troops may escape better 
than did the army of the revolutionary war, which was never free 
from vermin and the itch. 

I wish I could see the sanitary condition of our encampments in 
such rose-colored a light as it presented itself to the learned and emi- 
nent body of doctors who made the tour of the camps some time ago ; 
but I cannot. I have great faith, however, io the skill and ingenuity 
of the regimental surgeons. They are getting the '' hang" of camp 
life ; and I trust that, by and by^ our troops will be models of per- 
sonal cleanliness, health, and morals, if only good general sanitary 
regulations for the army are adopted at headquarters, and rigorously 
enforced by the regimental officers. God forbid that the narrow and 
impious policy of breaking down all but the animal nature of the 
men, and of converting them into mere fighting machines, should 
prevent wise measures for raising the moral and sanitary condition 
of our soldiers above the common and low standard of armies. 

There are other important matters affecting the sanitary condition 
of our troops upon which I would gladly touch, such as clothing, 
exercise, amusements, &c., but I have made this communication too 
long already. 

I will close by observing that I have urged the importance of atten/ 
tion to the health and vital force of our troops, mainly upon eoonoi^ 
cal grounds, trusting that others will urge the moral and i^lij 
duty of the government and the people to do everything 
for the well-being of those on whom the country is to relyy 
which makes a country worth living in. 
Eespectfully, 

S. Gj 



His Excellency J, A. Andrew. 

iLS?"^ ^^ CONGRESS 




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